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things never work out the way you plan

Most of the time, I am okay with being far away. Most of the time, I am okay with living in a rainy, cold city. Most of the time, I am okay with working for very little and not having any money no matter how hard I try to save it. Most of the time, I am okay with how much of a hassle it is to do almost anything here in Galicia. Most of the time, I accept these things. But some days, I’m not okay with it. Saturday was one of those days.

Saturday was one of those days where planets align and stars are in their houses and everything comes together to come apart, all at once. I’ve been sick for a week with something I can’t identify but which keeps me from eating anything good and allows me to see a wider variety of public bathrooms than I ever wish to experience. I was feeling better and then Saturday, I was feeling worse. The rain and constant changes of temperature can’t help either. My body gets confused with scarves and umbrellas one day, and tank tops another, so it does the only reasonable thing it can think to do: create lots of mucus.

Then I ran out of money. I mean, really. I thought I had more, and looked in my wallet and realized I had about forty-seven cents. This caused me to sit down on a bench in tears and whine to Carlos about working, about being sick, about feeling like crap. Carlos then proceeded to knock some sense into me and took me to the aquarium (he paid) where we saw seals, sharks, jellyfish, eels, and the coolest octopi ever. Next to toucans, the octopus might be my favorite animal. They’re extremely intelligent, agile, and just plain goofy. Quite tasty, too.

Luckily, the weather this weekend was beautiful. No rain, no scarves or tank tops, just perfectly crisp fall weather. Because, when everything’s going wrong, sometimes all you need is a fall day, a bowl of soup, and a trip to the aquarium… even if it takes three buses and a train to get there.